4 replies to this topic

[Fatman]

After I dried out my gallon of unpasteurized cider too far (didn't taste until after bottling), I decide to crank out a cheap and easy sweet sparkling cider. Got 4.5 Gallons of Apple Juice at Sam's Club for $12 and dumped in the jar of wild yeast I saved from the gallon batch (with a little yeast nutrient and some fermcap). I'm planning on spiking with Camden, backsweeting with apple juice concentrate to around 1.015-1.020 or so, and force carbing. It's bubbling away now, but boy, does it stink like rotten eggs. I've made a few lagers in my day, so I'm not real concerned about the sulphery smell. But I'm not real experience with cider - is there any reason to worry?Also, I kinda wanted some to share on Turkey Day, but not at the expense of bad cider - do ciders need a "yeast cleanup" period of a few days after airlock activity stops like I do with my beers?

[strangebrewer]

As Guest noted this is pretty common but it's also a symptom of yeast not getting the nutrients it needs. The most common nutrient lacking is nitrogen. If you're not already past the midpoint in the fermentation then you could try adding some Diammonium phosphate (DAP) to bump up the nitrogen and see if the smell stops.On a side note as far as back sweetening goes, sulfites are fine and are probably all you need to knock out wild yeast as wild yeast are not very sulfite resistant. DO NOT use any form of sorbate to stop the fermentation. Since you used a wild yeast cake chances are there will be malolactic bacteria present in there as it's commonly found on apples. Malolactic bacteria will react to the sorbates and produce geraniol which smells like a cross between fish and geraniums. Foul to say the least. You can add sorbates once malolactic fermentation is complete but not before.

[porter]

I got a hugely stinky ferment with my first cider. I had it in the room across the hall from my bathroom and my wife actually asked if I was having some GI problems. Three weeks out and it still smelled a little farty when I took the stopper off for a gravity sample, but can't taste it and presumably it will wear off in a few weeks. I'll have to try the DAP trick next time.

[porter]

Are there risks from yeast autolysis with cider from leaving in the primary too long as there are with beer? I usually do three weeks in primary with my beer anyhow and go straight to kegs. I was planning on leaving the cider on for five weeks and going directly to keg. I stopped (slowed?) the fermentation a week ago with 70 ppm kmeta, was at 1.010, which seemed the perfect level of sweetness to me (somewhat dry, but not bone-dry). Too bad I forgot to get an OG.

[porter]

What yeast did you use? A wine yeast is fine for a couple of months. I'm not sure how it works exactly with cider, but in some wine, you actually want the yeast to go through autolysis because it contributes a lot to body and flavours (sur lie process). I think your 5 weeks is just fine.

Munton's ale yeast. No particular reason; I just did this on the spur of the moment and used that because I had that in the fridge as a backup yeast (because it's cheap), and didn't feel like going to the homebrew shop. I've never actually used Munton's before.